Kids and Chiropractic

Kids and Chiropractic

Do you have a fussy or colicky baby? Is your little one missing important developmental milestones? Perhaps your older child has aches and pains from soccer practice, or is under stress from schoolwork or social situations?

It’s not just adults who benefit from chiropractic. Babies and children can, too.

“Children have nervous systems just like their parents do. And since the benefit of a well aligned spine is the proper function of the nerves that it protects, chiropractic is appropriate for people of all ages” says Dr. Harry Heeder, a San Diego chiropractor.

Dr. Heeder has advanced training through the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association to understand the unique requirements in adjusting pregnant women and children.

Children are more than just small adults so performing chiropractic adjustments on a child is different than on an adult. It involves a much lighter touch and it’s generally much quicker and easier to restore a child’s alignment and function.

We believe that it’s easier to raise a healthy child than it is to fix a broken adult; and chiropractic care has been shown to do just that. Relief from newborn jaundice, bedwetting, attention problems, asthma, allergies, colic, fussy feeding and chronic constipation are just some of the benefits that thousands of children have experienced through routine chiropractic care.

But what really impacts their lives — and yours — are the benefits their entire family tree will enjoy for generations.

Do Children Experience Stress?

Ah…Yes. They may not have traffic in the form of cars, but they get frustrated waiting in lines for popcorn at the movies and at toy stores and playgrounds. They may not have a spouse, but they have relationship worries around bullies and concerns over friends and fitting in. They may not have a job…but don’t they, really? Sure, school. They have a boss (teachers) that they may not agree with and rules to follow that cramp their style.

Physical stress? You bet! Every bump down the stairs on their butt, every head-first dive into the sofa, every tumble, fall and sports collision puts stress and strain on a developing spine. These stressors can affect a young one’s healthy development.

Restoring a baby’s well-being

Babies, for example, may suffer from spinal misalignments from birth, especially if it was a difficult delivery or a breech birth. Misalignments can cause various ailments, such as colic, indigestion, constipation and ear aches, by irritating the nerves that control your baby’s proper function.

Once your baby starts to crawl, you might notice something that doesn’t look quite right – your little one can’t get off her tummy, she favors one side over the other, or she belly-crawls instead of getting on her hands and knees. If spinal misalignments are the cause, chiropractic could help.

Restoring a child’s well-being

With kids, stressors such as homework or bullying might manifest in sleep disorders, indigestion, asthma or even bedwetting, all of which may be the result of a damaged nervous system that affects the body’s ability to function properly.

Kids also do damage to their bodies just by being kids. Children may fall up to 12,000 times just learning to walk! If they’re involved in sports, they might suffer seemingly small but regular and significant damage to a spine that is still very much developing.

Of course, the best reason to bring in your kids is you want them to be healthy.

“It’s just like getting a dental checkup,” says Dr. Heeder. “You’re health conscious, and you want to make a healthy lifestyle choice.”